Others - Shale Hill Secrets [v0.16.3] [Love-Joint]

There are three things that hold this back from being a top rated VN for me:

1. The engine. I just don't like the way it sets things up and the way certain things, like its own cursor customization, screws with your operating system and makes things work less efficiently when you pop out. It also closes your game window and makes you manually save each screenshot, rather than doing so automatically to either the game's primary folder or another folder you designate. Porting the saves from one episode to the next might be easy if you're only playing one or two routes, but is time consuming and annoying when you have more than one since you have to load from the old Episode, start the new, save, then go back to the main menu, back to the old episode, and repeat for each route played.
2. The, what is it called, "background and sprite"? method of display (static backgrounds, characters standing going through the same few poses for each conversation) for most of the VN. I read that this is the most popular method for the Hentai games that inspired this type of VN, and I also realize this allows them to get out updates much faster rather than posing every interaction, but it just isn't appealing. The custom/action/lewd scenes are VERY well done and it's just a shame that the rest of the VN isn't done similarly.
3. The dialogue. Well, specifically, the lewd scene dialogue. It puts me in mind of an adolescent boy that got into his dad's collection of old Penthouse Forum magazines and thought that was the pinnacle of sex writing. While this is true for the whole scene, it is particularly cringe with respect to the MC's internal dialogue/narrative of the scene. In addition to the stack of Forums, think they must also have two charts on the wall: one with the adolescent synonym list for "penis" and another for "vagina". They seem to have them numbered, and at times it seems they use them in a predetermined rotation, while occasionally just throwing a D20 to pick. The story itself is well written and well put together and the general story dialogue is a solid B+, but the lewd brings it down to C. It also seems that the QC for grammar and spelling has suffered now that they are nearing the end (this is as of Episode 16 - started following around Episode 4) and starting another project.

Overall, I enjoy the VN: the LIs are all exquisite and the action/lewd scenes are rendered wonderfully. The story is interesting, and the side characters bring variety and some amusement (TOASTERMAN!).

I recommend playing, just maybe temper your expectations and prepare to go from being extremely pleased with the VN to eye-rollingly-disappointed as you go through different segments.

I've grown to like this game the more I play it. At first, I was just playing for the LIs and the scenes, and that's still the case--except I now appreciate the story more.

At this point, the best part is the amount of content in this game and the phenomenal animations and poses.

I appreciate the writing and the vision behind it, but I also wish it moved much faster. Some times it really meanders back and forth between events before anything even happens. I frequently hit the skip button when it's clear the characters are just speaking for the sake of it, and the interaction has nothing to do with the overall story. At some point, I just need it to move faster and get to the next scene or event.

I like the chapter structure overall and how it wraps up each part of the story. This is great for its release schedule, and it makes it much easier to follow due to how long and winding the story is.

The game per se deserves a five star

Implementing methods to ensure that people dont mad skip - Amazing
Quality of Graphics - excellent
Reasonable differentialtion between characters - good
Story - Good
Sex scenes - 360 and animations - excellent
Predictability - Not so high but I think there is room for improvement there

There is only one reason I wont support this developer - paywalling chapters

I give one star because of the character design, I really can't tell the difference between character. to me they look all the same with different hairstyle.
The game mechanics are boring and even if the render (background) is good it's not enough to raise the game

Dude actually went and bricked his own game. A bit like that meme of the guy riding a bike that puts a stick in the wheel and then falls off to the side of the road, writhing in pain. He had a good thing going, too. You see this now and then with different devs. They write a story that starts off interesting and then ends up meandering around into a convoluted mess full of contradictions, clichés, and monotony. It's like what happened to [insert basketball game here].

I'm not sure if the dev simply lost touch with the premise and scope of his own story (bro they're just college students), or just ended up so far up his own 007 fantasy that he's turning everyone into a Bond villain. It's like the discount version of M. Night Shyamalan. "What a twist!" he proclaims --except it isn't. It's just uncanny, and it doesn't fit the personalities of the characters that you created and laid out from the get go. Nobody is intrigued or impressed with what you did to Valerie. We're all just kinda rolling our eyes on how yet another character is going full bozo and the whole story is suffering as a result.

In short, it feels like the dev is just making shit up as he goes. Changing the purpose or qualities of characters to meet the terrible ad-lib improv that is this mess of a story. And that's in essence the crux of the issue here. The renders are great, and the characters are cute, but that's really it. It's so much text, and so much dredge of boring nothingness at this point. Even the saving grace (the sex scenes) are so sparse that I've genuinely stopped caring about the story, and by extension the characters, altogether.

Damn shame, really.

It's soooooooooo boring.
Art is great, I really like that, and that's why I gave it a try. But thats all, you'll get some really nice models not doing anything.
I'm used to slow burn games, and have no problem with them, but at least sex scenes are worth the slow burn. Not in this game, you'll get tons of text before reaching a lewd scene, and then you'l click through it, not worth.
Additional mention to the worst MC I've ever seen, makes no sense at all, his motivations, his interest, nothing

This game has so much potential. It does so many things right. The girls are all great and very well written with a variety of body types. The story is engaging if a little drawn out at times. The sex scenes are incredibly well done as well.

So why only 3/5?

The MC in this game is the worst MC in any game I have ever played. There is no logic to anything he does. And he is CONSTANTLY monologuing about every little thing. Sometimes he even KNOWS his logic isn't any logic that any actual human would ever have, and that's beyond frustrating.

One scene in particular really gets me. He stays up all night (declines having sex, which, c'mon, no college kid would ever) and sleeps all day, then gets up and stays up all night again and he's an asshole because he "got no sleep." My man. Homie. You slept for like 10 hours. I'm 99% sure that he has some form of autism. It's the only thing that makes sense.

It's kind of like DFD for me - at first the game sets up a great premise and great characters, then it just gets bogged down and many of the great characters feel like they get lost.

I was a bit interested in the story, but it lost me at some point. It's pretty wild, but also kinda predictable.

Trying not to spoil, but let me just say, one of the characters I was the most interested in had this "twist" and it just feels like she's written into a corner where you can't be sympathetic to her and she feels fake.

Scenes are nice, but started to feel fake, as if inserted into each episode to have a quota.

And yeh, it drags on WAY too much, feels like it constantly has to do more and more.

I'd perhaps be less unhappy if it didn't have so much potential, but the fact it start off strong and gets disappointing makes it worse.

I played this for a while. I very much like the story and the models are great. I do thank you for the varied breast sizes and personalities. Awesome job!!! The only reason for 3 stars is I just cant passes the sandbox stuff. For some reason it throws off the flow for me. I am sure it is great for most and is no issue for most. It is just me. If you ever come out with a VN with the same story and models I am 100% all about it.

While the game stands out with impressive graphics and character design, the storytelling falls short, resulting in a disappointing experience. The protagonist's consistent lack of critical thinking and unwavering trust, even when betrayal is evident, can be a frustrating recurring issue for players. Additionally, this might be something only I might care about, but the treatment of Carmen, who was initially introduced as a potential love interest, raised expectations due to the unique dynamic between her and the protagonist, given his tendency to pursue relationships with girls who take advantage of him as he plays the role of a beta masochist. However, she was treated like a one-night stand by the protagonist, followed by her sudden disappearance, leaving me unsatisfied with her role. Despite the potential in visuals and character dynamics, these storytelling flaws significantly impact the overall gaming experience, making it challenging to wholeheartedly recommend.

The story is twisty but ultimately fluid.
The rendering is good with well-polished drawings and colors.
The girls are beautiful with special mention for Emilie for the sophisticated girl and Maggie for the shy and wild one.

This was originally going to be a 4-star review, but the last three chapters (as of v13.0) have sent the game downhill. Note that this review contains spoilers.

Pros:
1. Good renders and production value. One can clearly see the effort and sophistication put into making this, compared with your average crappy VN with mediocre renders, animations, UI, plot and music.

2. Story is quite good, especially in the initial chapters.

3. While the hacking is not totally realistic, the game still portrays it far better than the usual Hollywood garbage.

4. The girls have their own completely distinct personalities, and unique ways of responding to situations.

5. Some of the romances are very well done - slowly built up, and incredibly heartfelt, especially the consummation - a good example being the sister.

6. The supporting characters aren't all that bad too - Toasterman, Linus, Alfred, Dante, Stan.

Neutral:
The character art style is rather ...unusual. For me, Love-Joint's best art was in Double Homework. Still, this is incredibly subjective - there are probably a fair number of people, who find this style more pleasing.

Cons:
1. Some of the romances and sex scenes (esp. the first one with some LIs) are too rushed and lack the depth and emotion of the others. This also correlates to the level of plot involvement, screen time and character development of the LI in question - thus relegating half the LIs to a lower tier.

2. There is a certain lack of variety in the sex scenes. They all appear to proceed in very similar sequence of positions - although there are some changes in the last two chapters. Perhaps this will change significantly, for the better in the future.

3. The protagonist is an absolute idiot. He often fails to draw obvious conclusions, and makes utterly dumb plans (although self-aware enough to realize how stupid they are). He ends up getting through the game through a combination of incompetence by the enemy's minions, precisely timed rescues by other characters, a whole ton of luck, and the mysterious arch-nemeses's strange reluctance to seriously harm him.

6. the entire 'superhero campaign'? Pure cringe. Not even funny or stress-relieving in any way, and ridiculous when taking into consideration that the protagonist's life is currently balanced on the edge of a knife.

v0.13.0

First AVN I play after some years of not having the time (too busy), and I have to say this was a pleasant surprise. In the first few chapters the story and relationships do take some time to build up (it's a slowburn after all), so I understand why some people could get bored, but after episode 5 and especially from episode 10 onwards, few AVNs have managed to get me this invested in the story, and I even think this may be the only one where I don't care that much about the sex scenes, which are excellent still (that Valerie scene from the last update...)

Graphics are also top notch, as has become usual from Love Joint. It's really amazing to see how they have managed to keep going without Palmer (rip). I had already enjoyed DFD and DH, but this one is definitely some steps above.

I normally don't do this, but HOLY SHIT!
Those are the best renders and animations i've ever seen.
I must admit i skipped alot of the story so the 5 Stars are purely for the visual part.

Respect & Good job Soldier!

Only reason i dont give this 1 star is due to the good graphics and animations but story is the main thing for me it has to hold up and this feels so flawed.
There is alot of kinetic story line in this as well and alot of fake choices, like sister ask MC which one of us should go to A and B, you click MC to go to B and MC will go to A which makes it pointless to even ask if its just a set line anyway and also since MC just does what hes told by others constantly hes without any kind of backbone or brains, even up to chapter 16 hes an complete idiot walking stright into a trap that anyone with an IQ of 1 would see coming....and you never get any feeling of revenge since MC would never hit or kill someone....

Graphics 5/5
Girls 5/5
Story 0/5 = game unplayable.

Why couldent MC have bigger balls and more brains....from chapter 4 MC went totaly brainless.....

Leah said it perfectly that MC should feel betrayed, but MC dosent like that word even though he should absolutly feel that way.....get pissed do something ffs.... she stalked him for days, researched hes creditcards, tricked him so she could look into hes computer, how could he ever feel any diffrently.....and how would he ever be able to trust her again....

And how can he not atleast try to talk her out of a lifestyle that easily can get her killed or jailed for life even if it is futile atleast fucking try.....when he dosent it just shows how very very little he even cares about her when he just accepts that with out questioning it.....

Hell he should move out of that appartment knowing how she is and what she has done and cant be trusted, and if he likes her to much even after all this he should still move out to protect her since he would 100% know she wouldent stop looking into hes things....

Insted MC says she has him cornered? (wtf?) and he has to tell her? (wtf?) he dosent have to do any such things...where the fuck is the option to not tell Leah?

Insted MC just tells Leah every thing every secret, knowing she has 0 trust in him and knowing she cant be trusted and not knowing what she will do with that information, its when a MC is this brainless it ruins the game totaly, and this kind of stuff happens constantly.

And the problem is MC never learns, hes complete brainless fool every time hes with Leah, he trust her no matter what, even when they talked in the car when he opens up yet again and tell Leah everything and she openly tells MC she wont tell him everyting he pretty much just accept that fact......how can he keep telling her everything and trust her constantly knowing she will hide stuff all the time, even if shes trying to somehow protect MC its no diffrendt to MCs reason to hide stuf but yet he tells her everyting anyway, and dosent even get pissed at Leah it just make no sense no one is this stupid or calm when getting a knife in the back....

Heres another small hint on how many braincells MC has, leah is breaking into a police station, she records the code for a door with her phone when a cop uses it, MC is watching on cams and this is what he thinks "What i dont quite understand is what Leah is doing with her cellphone" i am not even kidding when i say this level of IQ is how MC is doing the hole game, are people supposed to find it funny when MC is this stupid? dont get it, it feels more like they just add and add more stupid text to fill out the game to waste the most time for the player/reader to make game feel bigger.

Even when MC finds out who silent1 is, one whos been a huge part of hurting hes friends, it takes him 2 seconds to trust that person again to just get knocked out by that person.....if this game does one thing it never stop supprising me how clueless MC is.

Even Leah hes own sister puts him in danger, lies to him and hide extremly importen information that could save hes life instend of risking it, also just dosent make any sense, she even says shes using him as a tool...prooving yet again MC is clueless and has 0 backbone, hes like a little puppy that blindly trust everyone.

Playing a MC with this level of stupid just broke the game for me, nothing of it made any sense to me at all, which is really annoying since i wanted to support this game, loved the chars the graphics, but with a broken story i just cant.

On a small sidenote for the virgin fans, virgin scenes are truely pure shit in this one, MC talks about deflowering but theres 0 blood and girl has absolutly no pain, so theres nothing to come for on that issue.

Problem is as the player/reader your supposed to put your self in the shoes of the MC, doing that in this game is painfull and nothing else, cant recommend this game at all.

Shale Hill Secrets 0.12.1

To me this game feels like a three star game, meaning I'm neutral on it. I don't hate it or love it. But because the quality is so good and there is so much gameplay and you can lose yourself in it, then I will bump it to four stars. But even though I give it four stars, it still feels like a three star game to me. But even though it feels like a three star to me, I feel grateful that there is a game like this that can keep me immersed and busy and forgetting about life for a while. So yeah, it's a good game.

As many have said, this game just drags on and on. I'm not saying the dragging on is a bad thing. It just felt like billions of hours were going by and all I was doing was following a story and its events. Like watching a TV series, episode after episode, for hundreds of episodes.

I made it to around the middle or end of Episode 3, which required me to play all day for two or three days, and I just gave up. I still kinda want to see what happens next, but I'm not in any hurry. I was curious about scenes with the sister Leah, so I used the Scene Gallery and found out that there is no sex scene with her until Episode 10. Well considering how long it took me to finish the first three episodes, and there are only two sex scenes with Leah by the end of Episode 11 is very discouraging. As I stated before, I played to like the middle or end of Episode 3 and then I just fast forward through most of an episode. When I did that, I was surprised that there were finally sex scenes and it was like one sex scene per girl. But strangely, I did not get excited for that. I didn't feel like rewinding and playing the game slowly so I could appreciate the lead up to and actual sex scenes. I don't know why. The game just kinda killed it for me. It felt like the sex scenes were scheduled robotic events and not naturally occurring ones full of passion, interest, or lust. And I like how good the females look and how they dress, but it started to feel like a lesbian game where I was a female making out with other females or something.

Other than that, this game is very deep. I mean the intelligence and wisdom involved in the story, dialogue, personality, life choices, etc., it's apparent to me that the person writing this game has a lot of understanding about life and spirituality and stuff. Like years of knowledge, experience, and wisdom.

I will probably play this game on and off over the rest of the year, a little at a time, and eventually get to the end of the game. But I'm not in a huge hurry to do this. I think this game could have been better, but not sure how exactly. It just felt like a cute cardboard cutout game where sex scenes are staged instead of happening naturally and I think the game is mostly for the story and setting than lust or relationships. Just a story game. Like watching your favorite TV show that takes place on a university or high school campus. The render quality and female character cuteness is just what makes the game bearable.

This game is insanely good. The story is really well written, got me invested, and enjoy interacting with all the characters. The character models are absolutely amazing, animations and facial expressions are 15 out of 10. This game is a fun journey that will leave you wanting more when you are done. The game is already full of content and fun, my only small disappointment is that some characters do not have anal scenes (yet)
Gameplay 10/10
Story 10/10
Fun 10/10
Art 15/10
Animations 15/10
The last thing to say about the story arc with sister/roommate it is an absolute nail-biter, the character is fun and perky the way you slowly develop a relationship with her is bliss. I am totally in love with her now.

DNF'd somewhere in episode 3. As others have said, the renders are pretty, the writing (in terms of actual prose) is reasonably polished, but... the story just drags. The MC is not particularly bright, he spends a ton of time navel gazing, and we keep having flashbacks that don't really add much of value, with vague free roam/sandbox elements that add even less. Oh, and I think I had one lewd scene in total so far (which was admittedly fairly hot... but sometimes quality does not make up for the lack of quantity). This one is not for me.

The game is really good!
Such a stable engine, beautiful animations, nice story
I just think it could explore Leah some more... since there's so many characters, it gets confuse how progression should work...
You end up with a lot of non-interestering events going on, with good scenes of course, but that can't really relate to whatever premisse the game rely on...

The game is pretty boring. The premise is fine, the characters are likeable but the writing is waaaay too boring and sometimes you wonder if it's an nsf game at all, pacing is way off and the game couldn't be further from sandbox. If you wanna read a story (not a great one, not a horrible one, just A story) - go ahead but it might bore you even knowing what your'e getting into. Visually the game looks good but the amout of content is not enough to justify reading allat.